Trade Union Forum

Trade unions delegates consultation. Johannesburg. November 14-15, 2016

Representatives of national trade union centres from Brazil, Russia, China and South Africa discussed topical issues of cooperation within BRICS during the international trade union workshop held on November 14-15, 2016 in Johannesburg (South Africa). The event was attended by over 90 delegates, 34 of whom represented trade union centres from 19 countries of sub-Saharan Africa; ten delegates (with the exception of South Africa) represented three BRICS countries (Brazil, Russia and China); 40 participants represented national trade union centres and various organizations of South Africa. The seminar was also attended by officials from regional branches of the ITUC, the ILO and Friedrich Ebert Foundation.

Apart from the interventions made by the delegates from BRICS, the African countries and international organizations, considerable attention of the audience was drawn to the keynote address by Mr. Dave Malcomson, Chief Director of the Department of International Relations of South Africa, who outlined general approach to the future presidency of his country in BRICS in 2018.

Of particular interest for the participants was the presentation made by Prof. Patrick Bond, Professor of Political Economy at the University of Witwatersrand School of Governance (Johannesburg), which focused on the review and analysis of all the Declarations adopted by BRICS Trade Union Forum throughout the entire period of its existence, including in the context of the Declarations adopted by the BRICS leaders’ summits. His work on systematization and analysis of BRICS documents deserves close attention.

The ACFTU delegate reported on the two events with participation of trade unions that are being planned under the Chinese presidency in BRICS during 2017: the Labour and Employment Ministers’ Meeting in June with the Working Group on Employment meeting to be held on its sidelines (city of Guiyang, Guizhou Province), and BRICS leaders’ summit in September (city of Xiamen, Fujian province). As regards the time and venue of the 5th BRICS Trade Union Forum, the Chinese delegation informed that the coordination of that event was still in progress.